Knowing the Pokémon type chart is one of the most important elements to becoming a top trainer. Whether you’re new to the series or want to double-check something in an important battle, we’ve got you covered. After all, memorising all 898 Pokémon’s weaknesses and resistances is nigh-impossible, so it’s always worth checking back to be sure your team is in good shape.
A Pokémon’s type dictates whether it is stronger or weaker against other Pokémon. If you’re at an advantage, you’ll deal super effective damage and if you’re weaker, you’ll do not very effective damage. In some situations, your attack could have no effect whatsoever, so it’s important to get to grips with the 18 Pokémon types to maximise your damage output.
Whether you are piloting one of the best Pokémon in Pokémon GO, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, or in a Pokémon Sword and Shield ranked match, knowing the Pokémon type chart is one of the biggest factors in winning or losing.
The easiest way to begin is with the three starting types. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl offers Chimchar, Turtwig, and Piplup to start your adventure; Fire, Grass, and Water-types respectively. Fire is super effective on Grass, Grass is super effective on Water, and Water is super effective on Fire. Chimchar beats Turtwig, Turtwig beats Piplup, and Piplup beats Chimchar. It’s just the Pokémon version of the circle of life.
While the Pokémon type chart has remained virtually the same for a few years now, some of the Pokémon world’s spin off games do things differently. Pokémon GO, for example, bends the rules ever so slightly when it comes to type strengths and weaknesses.
We’ll get onto Pokémon GO later, but for now, let’s look at the classic Pokémon type chart from the main series games.
Pokémon type chart
These are the general rules of the Pokémon type chart in main series games such as Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and Sword and Shield.
Super-effective attacks – that’s attacks against types you’re strong against – deal 2x damage, while not-very-effective attacks – against types you’re weak against – deal a paltry 0.5x damage.
Some attacks are labelled “no effect” and have, predictably, no effect on opposing Pokémon. On the other hand, if you happen to be hitting a dual-type Pokémon that is doubly weak to your attack, you’ll deal a devastating 4x damage.
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This type chart is accurate for all current main series Pokémon games, including Pokémon Sword and Shield and both the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra DLC. Although Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are Gen 4 remakes, they too ascribe to the current Pokémon type chart.
The first two columns dictate how effective Pokémon of that type are when attacking, and the last two columns show how strong it is defensively.
| Type | Strong against | Weak against | Resistant to | Weak to |
| Normal | – | Rock, Steel, Ghost (no effect) | Ghost (no effect) | Fighting |
| Fighting | Normal, Rock, Steel, Ice, Dark | Flying, Poison, Bug, Psychic, Fairy, Ghost (no effect) | Rock, Bug, Dark | Flying, Psychic, Fairy |
| Flying | Fighting, Bug, Grass | Rock, Steel, Electric | Fighting, Bug, Grass, Ground (no effect) | Rock, Electric, Ice |
| Poison | Grass, Fairy | Poison, Ground, Rock, Ghost, Steel (no effect) | Fighting, Poison, Grass, Fairy | Ground, Psychic |
| Ground | Poison, Rock, Steel, Fire, Electric | Bug, Grass, Flying (no effect) | Poison, Rock, Electric (no effect) | Water, Grass, Ice |
| Rock | Flying, Bug, Fire, Ice | Fighting, Ground, Steel | Normal, Flying, Poison, Fire | Fighting, Ground, Steel, Water, Grass |
| Bug | Grass, Psychic, Dark | Fighting, Flying, Poison, Ghost, Steel, Fire, Fairy | Fighting, Ground, Grass | Flying, Rock, Fire |
| Ghost | Ghost, Psychic | Normal (no effect), Dark | Poison, Bug, Normal (no effect), Fighting (no effect) | Ghost, Dark |
| Steel | Rock, Ice, Fairy | Steel, Fire, Water, Electric | Normal, Flying, Rock, Bug, Steel, Grass, Psychic, Ice, Dragon, Fairy, Poison (no effect) | Fighting, Ground, Fire |
| Fire | Bug, Steel, Grass, Ice | Rock, Fire, Water, Dragon | Bug, Steel, Fire, Grass, Ice | Ground, Rock, Water |
| Water | Ground, Rock, Fire | Water, Grass, Dragon | Steel, Fire, Water, Ice | Grass, Electric |
| Grass | Ground, Rock, Water | Flying, Poison, Bug, Steel, Fire, Grass, Dragon | Ground, Water, Grass, Electric | Flying, Poison, Bug, Fire, Ice |
| Electric | Flying, Water | Grass, Electric, Dragon, Ground (no effect) | Flying, Steel, Electric | Ground |
| Psychic | Fighting, Poison | Steel, Psychic, Dark (no effect) | Fighting, Psychic | Bug, Ghost, Dark |
| Ice | Flying, Ground, Grass, Dragon | Steel, Fire, Water, Ice | Ice | Fighting, Rock, Steel, Fire |
| Dragon | Dragon | Steel, Fairy (no effect) | Fire, Water, Grass, Electric | Ice, Dragon, Fairy |
| Dark | Ghost, Psychic | Fighting, Dark, Fairy | Ghost, Dark, Psychic (no effect) | Fighting, Bug, Fairy |
| Fairy | Fighting, Dragon, Dark | Poison, Steel, Fire | Fighting, Bug, Dark, Dragon (no effect) | Poison, Steel |
Another thing to note is Same-Type Attack Bonus, or STAB. This affects Pokémon that attack with a move the same type as them, giving it a 1.5x damage boost that stacks with any super effective boosts. So, try to use super effective moves that match your Pokémon’s type to deal the most damage!
Pokémon GO type chart
The Pokémon GO type chart is largely similar to the main series one, but with some slight differences:
- Super effective moves do 1.6x damage rather than 2x
- Not very effective moves do 0.625x damage rather than 0.5x
- If a Pokémon would usually be immune to a certain of damage (for instance, a Ghost-type being hit with a Normal move), it will instead do 0.39x damage. This is also true if a move would also be super effective, so Charizard would only take 0.39x damage from the Ground-type move Earthquake because it is a Flying-type, despite also being a Fire-type
- If a Pokémon is doubly weak to a move (for example, a Grass/Steel-type Pokémon being hit with a Fire-type move), it will do 2.56x damage in Pokémon GO rather than 4x
Other than that, the Pokémon GO type chart remains the same as the main series chart above. So, whether you’re headed to do a raid or diving into Pokémon GO ranked battles in the GBL, remember to line up Pokémon that deal super effective damage.
